Historic Lemhi Co.

The sign names the five men who struck gold at Leesburg in July 1866 but not the town's politics. Most of the miners who rushed in were Southerners and named the camp for Robert E. Lee; Union men laid out a rival Grantsville at the east end of the main street, and the larger name won. Some 2,000 people were there by the spring of 1867. By 1870 fewer than 200 were left, and Chinese miners took over many of the abandoned claims and worked them for years. The town is a ghost, a historic district since 1975.

What the plaque says

Historic Lemhi Co. 1866-Gold discovered at Leesburg by Elijah Mulkey, Wm. Smith, F. B. Sharkey, Jos. Rapp, & Ward Girton. Mining has continued in Lemhi Co. with production of $30Mil. in gold & nearly $35 Mil. in copper, lead, tungsten, silver, etc. 63 mineral species are found. Aug. 1805 - Lewis & Clark entered Lemhi Valley 20Mi. So. & crossed Idaho 75 Mi. No. to the Pacific. 1832-Bonneville occupied valley 4Mi. No. representing the U.S. in Oregon Territory. 1855- a Mormon settlement established at Fort Lemhi near the place where Lewis & Clark first encamped: abandoned 1858. Agriculture and stock raising established in 1870. 125 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sacajawea Interpretive, Cultural and Educational Center — 5.5 mi
  In the valley where she was born, a center that spells her name the way many of her people say it.
• Lemhi Pass — 28 mi
  Lewis walked up a Shoshone road looking for the Pacific and saw only more mountains.

More markers nearby

• Fort Bonneville — steps away
• Lewis and Clark — 12 mi
• Sacajawea — 17 mi
• Lewis and Clark — 17 mi